Vegetables + herbs
A backyard's worth of raised beds can supply most of a family's vegetables and all its herbs.
Less than you think. The honest breakdown — because intensity beats acreage.
The honest answer surprises people: you can grow serious food on a fraction of an acre. Self-sufficiency is about how intensively you use space, not how much you own.
A backyard's worth of raised beds can supply most of a family's vegetables and all its herbs.
Add a small flock of hens and a few fruit trees. Now you're covering breakfast too.
Room for potatoes, grains, more preserving, maybe a couple of goats or bees.
Livestock, woodlot for heat, and true food independence. Most people never need this much.
The Self-Sufficient Backyard is literally about doing this on a normal lot — Ron & Johanna's 40 years of high-yield systems, no ranch required.
Garden beds, rainwater sizing, pantry days-of-supply and the weekly rhythm — free spreadsheet, straight to your inbox.